NEWPORT NEWS, Va.— Dayton won the Atlantic 10 Conference regular season and will be the No. 1 seed for next week’s Atlantic 10 Women’s Basketball Championship at VCU’s Stuart C. Siegel Center in Richmond, Va. The 14-team event begins Wednesday, March 10 with the championship final set for Sunday, March 14.
ESPN+ will air Wednesday’s first-round games through Friday’s quarterfinals. CBS Sports Network will air the semifinals Saturday at 1:00 and 4:00 pm. The championship final is set for noon on ESPNU.
The Flyers registered a 12-1 record in league play and a winning percentage of .923. The defending champion, Dayton will receive a double-bye into the quarterfinals and will open the championship Friday, March 12 at 11:00 am.
In addition to Dayton, second-seeded Fordham (8-2), No. 3 Saint Louis (9-3) and No. 4 Rhode Island (11-4) earned double byes into the quarterfinal round of the championship. Rhode Island plays at 2:00 pm Friday, followed by Fordham at 5:00 pm, and Saint Louis will play in the last quarterfinal at 8:00 pm.
Seeds five through 10 earn byes into the second round and will begin play Thursday. VCU (10-5) is seeded fifth and will play the winner of No. 12 Davidson (5-10) and No. 13 St. Bonaventure (5-12) at 2:00 pm Thursday. The Wildcats and Bonnies will open the Championship Wednesday in the first round at 1:00 pm on ESPN+.
No. 6 Richmond (9-6) will open play Thursday at 8:00 pm against the winner of the late first-round game between No. 11 George Washington (5-9) and No. 14 George Mason (0-14). The game between the Colonials and Patriots will tip off at 4:00 pm on Wednesday on ESPN+.
Seventh-seeded Massachusetts (7-5) will play 10th-seeded Saint Joseph’s (5-9) at 5:00 pm on Thursday in the second round, with the winner playing No. 2 Fordham. No. 8 La Salle (7-10) faces No. 9 Duquesne (4-7) at 11:00 am on Thursday for the right to play Dayton in the quarterfinals.
Saint Joseph’s earned the No. 10 seed over George Washington via a head-to-head tiebreaker, thanks to the Hawks’ regular season win over GW.
The winner of the Atlantic 10 Championship will receive the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.